Mistress: Pregnant by The Spanish Billionaire

Nell turned her head. ‘Let me guess—we are out of petrol?’

He sketched a humourless smile. ‘He’s married.’

Nell looked at him blankly. ‘What?’

‘Francesco is married.’

She’d been slow to catch his drift, but now she had the angry colour flew to her cheeks. ‘You are telling me this why?’ She just wanted to hear him say it.

‘Well, you were clearly very taken with him.’

She arched an ironic brow and fixed him with a cold glare. ‘How charmingly put—much nicer than flat out accusing me of being a slut. It may surprise you to learn that I can smile at a man without ripping off his clothes.’

‘You did not smile at me and you ripped my clothes off anyway.’

Nell drew a shuddering breath. I walked right into that one. ‘I liked Francesco because he is a gentleman. You are a total barbarian!’ She flung the accusation in a voice that ached with loathing.

She was actually shaken by the violent depth of her feelings. All her emotions seemed to be extreme around this man.

The fine muscles around his jaw tightened as their glances locked, stormy dove-grey on smouldering brown. Sheer obstinacy prevented her shrinking back in her seat—he looked the barbarian she had accused him of being and more.

So why was her pulse racing in excitement? Nell asked herself, the voice in her head mocking her newfound taste for barbarians with beautiful mouths.

Nell’s eyes flickered wide in horrified recognition.

Luiz held her eyes for one long nerve-shredding moment before switching on the engine, crunching the gears and grunting. ‘Maybe you bring out the barbarian in me.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

IT WAS LATE afternoon when they reached the castillo; since the heated exchange when they had set out Luiz hadn’t spoken a word.

And Nell had not felt inclined to initiate a conversation, as conversations, even ones that involved safe, boring subjects like the weather, somehow developed sexual undertones.

Why was everything suddenly about sex: the elusive fragrance of his warm body, the stubble on his chin, his damned stupidly long eyelashes? It was, she decided, one of life’s great enigmas—either that or she had lost her mind.

So what happens now? Nell wondered, casting a surreptitious glance at Luiz’s profile. In the shadows cast by the tall trees that lined the entire driveway it was impossible to make out details, just the strong, pure outline.

Would he put her in a taxi or expect her to share his bed?

A shiver shimmied down her spine as she slipped free of her safety belt and thought about the latter possibility—and if he did would she accept?

Would it be so terrible?

Nell’s eyes flickered wide—the fact she had seriously asked herself the question even hypothetically meant there had been a major shift in her thinking over the past twenty-four hours.

It wasn’t as if it could make things worse to sleep with him, in a bed—she would still be going home tomorrow. And she wanted him—why deny it when she couldn’t think about anything else?

The acknowledgement of her total fixation drew a tiny grunt of shock from her dry throat.

Luiz, who had just switched off the engine, turned his head at the sound. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Fine, totally fine!’ And then, because her cheery smile seemed to throw him, she pressed her hand to her chest and cleared her throat. ‘I’m just a bit…dry. I’ll be fine after a cup of tea…if you have…if it’s not too much trouble,’ she finished lamely.

He raised a brow and regarded her quizzically. ‘You want tea?’

I want you. ‘That would be good, please.’

Luiz carried on looking at her in that spooky way that made her feel he could actually see the thoughts in her head.

There were beads of sweat along her upper lip when she finally managed to break eye contact. The atmosphere in the car hummed with tension. ‘Gosh, I’m so stiff it will be good to stretch my legs.’

Nell almost fell out of the car in her effort to escape. She stood there drawing in big shaky gulps of fresh air.

She had gone through her entire adult life without any sex and now she couldn’t think about anything else!

Nell heard the crunch of gravel as Luiz got out and joined her; she didn’t turn her head, but she knew he was standing behind her. The sensitive skin on the back of her neck prickled as she sensed his presence. She was painfully aware of Luiz, the texture of his skin, the sound of his voice… She closed her eyes—what was happening to her?

If anyone had told her twenty-four hours earlier that she would be unable to breathe because a man was standing close to her she would have laughed in her face.

This was ridiculous. Nell pinned a smile on her face, turned around and heard herself say with wince-inducing chirpiness, ‘Well, we’re here.’